I have this ear pain that won't go away

[Kjs]

It has been about a month now. It is such sharp pain, but it comes on strong and goes away. Sometimes it hurts for hours, other times I get a sharp peircing pain then it is ok for a while.

It is way, way inside my ear. Hard to explain. Kind of inside and down, like behind my jaw. Feels like some pressure inside my ear but pain is lower.

I went to the doctor and he said my ears were fine. Asked if this pain was related to exercise. Said some ear pain is connected to heart problems. Then he asked if I had chest pain. He told me to call him back if it doesn't go away.

It's been a week, so I called him back. His office referred me to an ENT. Can't get in there until mid October.

This is such sharp pain. So, ofcourse I now am worried of a heart attack too. Geez. Anyone hear of ear pain and heart problems?

 

[klmno]

I haven't heard that, but that doesn't mean anything. I have heard of inner ear problems causing pain like you describe. I don't want you to take any risks, but if it was me, I'd probably continue with the ENT appointment unless I had any other symptom of a heart problem- then I'd get somewhere real quick.

 

[Mamaof5]

Have you considered trigeminal neuralgia 1 or 2 (aka TN1 or TN2): http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/505378_2

TN2 can also be caused by dental injury or dental decay left untreated for long periods from what I understand and have been told. It can be caused by structural injury (jaw being broken, nose, slipped disk in the neck) as well. Ear pain is a symptom of TN1 and TN2 because the auditory nerve runs along the same pathways in that area.

 

[Mattsmom277]

Have never heard or read of it being related to heart issues, I'm going to ask my ENT next appointment because I'm the curious type. Will try to remember to post here what she says.

I have ear problems and do get inner and outer ear infections, severe ones. But also I have had no sign of infection or inflamation that frustrated me due to ongoing intermittent ear pain for a long time, which eventually did spread into a ear infection. It turns out to be the partoid gland that was inflammed and infected. Eventually my body didn't knock down the infection (which was happening thus the pain coming and going) and the infection would go into the ears but also through all my facial nerves. I was in CCU twice simply because I/we had no idea so had no way to know to check the partoid gland in time to squash the infection before it went wildfire and spread rapidly (usually within hours). The good thing is if it is the partoid gland they can do things. If the pain spreads or becomes constant, get to a walk in or something and have ears checked again and maybe ask them to check the glands too. If anyone had checked my partoid gland by simple touch alone a doctor would have known it was a problem and antibiotics and a dose of steroids would have fixed things up.

There are some other good ideas too. Its such a complicated region since so many little things can cause discomfort like this. Does it hurt more when in the wind or after showering or if you lay on that side too long while sleeping (thus putting pressure on it etc)???

 

[Lothlorien]

Not to scare you, but get to doctor asap and request MRI or CT scan of the area. My mother in law has a tumor that is near her carotid artery and pushing on the nerves that causes severe pain by her ear. Go to an ENT for sure. Have him/her do a thorough evaluation and request an MRI.

My mother in law's tumor is actually hormonal and causing her blood pressure to drop to the point where she is passing out and it pushes on the carotid artery, causing her to have mini strokes.

She waited for months to get it checked. Don't do that.

 

[DammitJanet]

I have had pain that sounds similar to what you are describing and it was related to that trigeminal neuralgia. It feels like the pain comes from inside the ear and down the side of the face to the jaw bone. It can also run up the side of the face toward the temple area. Normal pain medications dont really help it much but the nerve pain things like neurontin, lyrica and even lamictal, topamax and a few other things help. Also sometimes they do a cortisone shot there. Surgery can be needed in bad cases. Oh...you may want to try a mouth guard in case teeth grinding is leading to this. You can pick one up in the pharmacy or even in the sporting section of walmart. Football mouth guards.

 

[Kjs]

This pain is so frustrating. I learned a lot from everyone. One thing I see when researching is TMJ. but reading about it and actually speaking to someone who has had this experience. The ears hurt, sometimes like pressure you would feel from flying, but not the blockage. Behind my jaw, neck area from ears down. Scares me because 20 years ago I had this pain in the back of my throat on one side, but down lower in my throat. Some ear pain on one side in same area. Turned out I had a lump on the lymph node in my neck. They removed it. Also had a lump on the back of my tongue. With the removal and biopsy from the neck and anti biotics, it all cleared up. I keep thinking of this. I do have pain in the throat down on one side just like before. Neck hurts to the touch. But the pain is both ears. sharp pain. pressure.
I did have A LOT of dental work done this past month. One of the visits about the time this started I had a difficult time keeping my mouth open for so long. Pain in the jaw. With some sharp stabbing pain I think my jaw is dislocated. Oh, how your mind wonders.